Q.WhatisNutritionalTherapy?

Nutritional therapy is very person-focussed, with time taken to understand your integrative and individual health requirements. For example; your digestive, immune, detoxification, hormonal, musculoskeletal, brain chemical, and energy systems are all considered, along with the genetic tendencies of each. Sophisticated laboratory tests are often employed if more information is required. Wholesome food is then used as the primary method of improving the health of your imbalanced body systems. Lifestyle changes (such as exercise patterns and stress management) are often recommended, plus carefully chosen high-grade supplements if needed. See the www.bant.org.uk website for more information.

Q.Organicfoodisreallyexpensive-whyshouldIspendtheextramoney?

Here’s some easy quotes you to remember: “the intensification of animal farming has virtually destroyed the nutritional quality of our food” Professor Michael Crawford in Farmageddon; “have you seen the cost of cancer lately” Joel Salatin in You Can Farm. Most South African’s spend more in monthly car payments than they do on their food - think about that poorly assigned modern priority for a moment. Finally, if you won’t make food changes for yourself, do it for your kids - check out this sad report on the link between hormones in our foods and early menstruation in our girls

Q.Doyoudobloodwork?

Ian Craig uses the South African pathology labs Ampath, Lancet and Pathcare for standard blood tests, plus he accesses more digestion and immune-specific tests from Synexa Life Sciences in Cape Town - this would be tests like a digestive stool analysis and a food sensitivity panel. Additionally, he uses the full array of Johannesburg-based DNAlysis Biotechnology genetic tests (DNA Diet, Health, Sport & Oestrogen) and he sends samples to Denmark-based functional laboratory Nordic Labs for more specialised assessment of metabolic and nutritional needs. Laboratory testing is only carried out when he feels the need to learn more about the client after the first consultation and the particular lab tests chosen are specific to that individual.

In some cases, yes, but in most cases no. You will find blog posts and articles on this topic in the Resources section, but essentially, being low in something in your diet (i.e. carbs) can mean exclusion of some important foods, while being high in something else (i.e. fat) can mean overdoing certain nutritional components. We view the human body as being a certain shade of grey, whereas for argument sake, a LCHF diet can be viewed as black and a LFHC diet as white (or vice versa). These are extremes of human needs, which we call ‘outliers’ - an Eskimo may do great on a LCHF approach and an Indian may do well on a LFHC approach, but most of us lie somewhere in-between these two extremes. There lies the genetic uniqueness within all of us and it is your life’s work to figure out where you personally lie on that spectrum.

Q.Doyourecommendsupplements?

Absolutely; but only really good ones with a high efficacy and with no nasties in the pill or powder. In an ideal world, living off farm fresh organic food and living an outdoor, pollutant-free life, we would perhaps not need additional nutrition support. But, we all have a large toxic burden imposed by modern living, which needs nutritional support to clear, we eat foods that are nutrient-poor compared to days gone past, plus each one of us have very unique genetic needs that need to be balanced in order to enjoy sustainable long-term health. Supplementing our nutritional weaknesses and challenges with high-grade nutraceuticals is not a bad idea in this day and age. Plus, newer supplements are focussing a lot more on food extracts, which we enjoy using.

Q.Becauseyoufocusonhealth,doyoufavouravegetarianapproach?

We’ll refer you to the Banting question above. Vegetarianism is another outlier (although not extreme) approach that suits some people, but not others. For example, a large number of the Indian subcontinent eat a vegetarian diet, based largely on lentils, rice, vegetables and dairy products (most fermented). If you read the fantastic book The Blue Zones, which is about healthy centurions in various rural locations in the world, most of these people eat a vegetarian-based diet most of the time, but you wouldn’t call them vegetarian in the modern sense because on special occasions, they eat meat. We call this moderation - a life approach that we like very much…